Your practices regarding LGBT/those who are appostates

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Curious how those of you here have treated LGBT/appostate family members. To be honest, compared to a lot of the other religious people I've known, you guys here are pretty awesome. The likes of Papa make me think if I had someone like that around me as a kid if my life would have been different. People here aside, seeing how the LDS Church has responded to LGBT hate laws has been inspiring. The one glimmer of hope I had in the Pope is slowly going away, not liking what he's done with ecumenicalism as of late is disgusting. Christianity is losing people like crazy, the *Stablization* they had a decade or so ago has all but reversed, even the LDS Church is having issues now. Worlds a miserable enough place as it is, doesn't help your cause nor public image to be cruel to those who are different. Curious how you guys have helped turn the tide in whatever way you can.

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Curious how those of you here have treated LGBT/appostate family members. To be honest, compared to a lot of the other religious people I've known, you guys here are pretty awesome. The likes of Papa make me think if I had someone like that around me as a kid if my life would have been different. People here aside, seeing how the LDS Church has responded to LGBT hate laws has been inspiring. The one glimmer of hope I had in the Pope is slowly going away, not liking what he's done with ecumenicalism as of late is disgusting. Christianity is losing people like crazy, the *Stablization* they had a decade or so ago has all but reversed, even the LDS Church is having issues now. Worlds a miserable enough place as it is, doesn't help your cause nor public image to be cruel to those who are different. Curious how you guys have helped turn the tide in whatever way you can.

I think the members will or have changed their views a lot when it comes to the LGBTQ crowd, and hopefully that will work it's way up to the leaders.

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I think the members will or have changed their views a lot when it comes to the LGBTQ crowd, and hopefully that will work it's way up to the leaders.

I'd hope so, considering the fallout over prop 8 and so many Christians getting a bad rap for tossing out their LGBT children it's starting to come back. With social media it is so easy to blackball someone, organizations included. Christianity doesn't have the teeth they used to, and after so many years of bigotry people can and do look for any excuse they can to make Christians look bad. Never really understood why the LDS church would want to be considered Christian, i'd have stuck with the restoration part. By claiming your Christian, you get lumped in with the other denominations who have done so many horrible things they make you guys look like literal saints, no pun intended.

Seriously now would be the time to shine, for giggles i'd point out that while many other branches of the Christian religion still do little to help LGBTQ people as well as combat the rising tides of racism, you guys are different. I think it's fair, when Romney tried running for office the Evangelicals down south did everything they could to smear him, religion was the main one. What's good for the goose is good for the gander lol.

Also, i'd point out all the good you do in Polynesia, when you have places in the South Pacific where 60% of the population is LDS, hint hint you guys are doing a good job.

Edited January 27 by poptart

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....................... Never really understood why the LDS church would want to be considered Christian, i'd have stuck with the restoration part. By claiming your Christian, you get lumped in with the other denominations who have done so many horrible things they make you guys look like literal saints, no pun intended. ..........................

Correct. However, LDS Church leaders have long wanted to fit into the "Christian" crowd in a kind of ecumenical spirit, which only brings forth the suspicion that the LDS have ulterior motives. Those LDS leaders may be hopelessly naive. Just seeing how Mitt Romney was treated by evangelicals should tell the true story, because they'd sooner vote for a serial adulterer than an authentic Latter-day Saint.

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There are increasingly same gendered couples in our meetings. If we are acting as we are taught to act, we are welcoming them and encouraging them, even if we do not support their marriages or living together as partners. It is the bishop's job to determine their worthiness and ask them not to do anything that he feels they need to be counseled about, not members. ( It can be tough to sort out how to apply a family rule that unmarried couples may not share a bedroom in the family home, if the gay couple has been legally wed.)

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There are increasingly same gendered couples in our meetings. If we are acting as we are taught to act, we are welcoming them and encouraging them, even if we do not support their marriages or living together as partners. It is the bishop's job to determine their worthiness and ask them not to do anything that he feels they need to be counseled about, not members. ( It can be tough to sort out how to apply a family rule that unmarried couples may not share a bedroom in the family home, if the gay couple has been legally wed.)

True. It would also be interesting to know whether there are many (or only a few) unmarried but cohabiting hetero-couples attending LDS services and social occasions. If so, how are they greeted and treated? How should we deal with obvious fornication among members and non-members? Adultery? These are certainly prohibited by LDS rules and actionable in a Church court, but how should we respond to non-member guests?

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True. It would also be interesting to know whether there are many (or only a few) unmarried but cohabiting hetero-couples attending LDS services and social occasions. If so, how are they greeted and treated? How should we deal with obvious fornication among members and non-members? Adultery? These are certainly prohibited by LDS rules and actionable in a Church court, but how should we respond to non-member guests?

A lot of people co-habit now for tax reasons, someone filing head of household esp. if there are kids involved will get a lot around tax season. That, and the parent qualifies for all kinds of welfare. Can't say I blame them, kids are expensive and the USA doesn't support families like they used too. Don't be suprised if they just leave if the Bishop brings the hammer down. Would think now would be a great time for the ward to come together and while preaching the virtues of marriage do what they can to help, be it job referals, leads, etc. Now's your time to shine!

2 hours ago, Robert F. Smith said:

Correct. However, LDS Church leaders have long wanted to fit into the "Christian" crowd in a kind of ecumenical spirit, which only brings forth the suspicion that the LDS have ulterior motives. Those LDS leaders may be hopelessly naive. Just seeing how Mitt Romney was treated by evangelicals should tell the true story, because they'd sooner vote for a serial adulterer than an authentic Latter-day Saint.

You got it. Relgiion has always been a shady business, look at Europe it took a religious war and 10 million dead people to make em get their act together, sorta. People here have had it made, it's just now they're getting a taste of what the rest of the world has had to deal with for centuries.

59 minutes ago, rpn said:

There are increasingly same gendered couples in our meetings. If we are acting as we are taught to act, we are welcoming them and encouraging them, even if we do not support their marriages or living together as partners. It is the bishop's job to determine their worthiness and ask them not to do anything that he feels they need to be counseled about, not members. ( It can be tough to sort out how to apply a family rule that unmarried couples may not share a bedroom in the family home, if the gay couple has been legally wed.)

Like i've said, now it's your chance to shine. You guys are very much under the microscope, one bad action could result in a flurry of facebook/twitter rage. People really don't play nice anymore....

I would hope the Bishop would ask himself something simple, what would Jesus do...

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I'd hope so, considering the fallout over prop 8 and so many Christians getting a bad rap for tossing out their LGBT children it's starting to come back. With social media it is so easy to blackball someone, organizations included. Christianity doesn't have the teeth they used to, and after so many years of bigotry people can and do look for any excuse they can to make Christians look bad. Never really understood why the LDS church would want to be considered Christian, i'd have stuck with the restoration part.

The claim to be Christian came from the Book of Mormon where those who followed Christ were called Christians. It surprised me one day when an online poster who had left the church talked about how we never claimed to be Christian when she was growing up, but now we are doing it to be accepted. She missed the reference in the Book of Mormon and all the teachings that back up the name and claim.

But to your question. I have an uneasy relationship to the one bi person in my family, but it has nothing to do with her being bi and everything to do things she says about a lot of things and how she says them. I still love her, try to treat her well, hug her etic.

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The claim to be Christian came from the Book of Mormon where those who followed Christ were called Christians. It surprised me one day when an online poster who had left the church talked about how we never claimed to be Christian when she was growing up, but now we are doing it to be accepted. She missed the reference in the Book of Mormon and all the teachings that back up the name and claim.

But to your question. I have an uneasy relationship to the one bi person in my family, but it has nothing to do with her being bi and everything to do things she says about a lot of things and how she says them. I still love her, try to treat her well, hug her etic.

That may be, still acceptance may not be the best thing, considering the bad rap Christians are getting nowadays if it was be I'd be leary. Besides, as a rule I think most people consider those outside of Trinitarians to be something less than Christian, then again what do I know anymore I'm not a real practioner of the religion so who I am I to speak. Think what would worry me is the growth of the secular folk and even Wicca/Neo-Paganism. Kind of off topic, Wicca has exploded, there's now more of them than Presbyterians.

Know my share of Wicca folk, while many do try to get along there are many more who really, really resent Christians for mistreatment. Many of them come from messed up families like I did so they caught plenty of judgement as kids due to things that were totally out of their control (i.e, divorced parents, amoral parents which of course meant that the children were naturally amoral in the eyes of many Christians) So they grew up with a ton of resentment which spills over into politics and the public realm. I had it bad but hey at least I know not all of you guys are bad and unlike a lot of Christians in the states on a whole you guys know better than to just destroy your families as quickly as many others do. Think during my whole time in nursing i've only seen like one or two mormons in a nursing home and like one Asian and a local from Hawaii, the latter was in rehab and her sons were checking on her constantly. I'd take some pride in knowing my religion didn't decide to act like entitled. privileged jerks, people who still understand civility. Differences can be good and esp. at times like this, sometimes division can be a good thing.

Hmmm, very opinionated bi person? Gotcha. That's where I draw the line too, known more than a few people like that, ones I knew treated their LGBTQ status like their golden ticket to act as nasty as possible.

Edited January 28 by poptart

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One thing I like but didn't use to, at the height of my faith crisis in Mormonism, is that LDS don't take the Bible as being so perfect and the complete word of God. Now I'm grateful that LDS say it's true as far as it being translated correctly. At one time, I actually searched another church, one was a Baptist church and a few Bible churches. And my insurance guy is exLDS turned nonLDS Christian at a Bible church and he was working on me and my husband to come to his church. I found out when I was watching a show called ExMormonFiles and he was being interviewed about his leaving Mormonism and we brought it up to him.

I'm glad now, that I don't take the Bible to be the full word of God, because how awful some of it's passages are. I kinda have thrown the baby out with the Bible when it comes to my wanting to read it anymore. In the Bible, women are less than men, Gays are bad people, donkeys talk, Lot's wife was turned to salt because she looked back, and so many other crazy things.

So as an LDS I hold hope that the leaders of the church get further revelation on the topic of the LGBTQ's. Which with the nonLDS Christian could never happen, because of their belief that all they need is the Word of God aka Bible.

Edited January 28 by Tacenda

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One of my past young women came out as gay (she's currently attending BYU) a few months ago. I only interact with her on Facebook but I don't treat her any differently than I always have. I comment and 'Like' her posts, even the ones where she is expressing her feelings on LGTBQ issues. When she talks about her own journey I always remind her how much I love her.

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One thing I like but didn't use to, at the height of my faith crisis in Mormonism, is that LDS don't take the Bible as being so perfect and the complete word of God. Now I'm grateful that LDS say it's true as far as it being translated correctly. At one time, I actually searched another church, one was a Baptist church and a few Bible churches. And my insurance guy is exLDS turned nonLDS Christian at a Bible church and he was working on me and my husband to come to his church. I found out when I was watching a show called ExMormonFiles and he was being interviewed about his leaving Mormonism and brought it up to him.

I'm glad now, that I don't take the Bible to be the full word of God, because how awful some of it's passages are. I kinda have thrown the baby out with the Bible when it comes to my wanting to read it anymore. In the Bible, women are less than men, Gays are bad people, donkeys talk, Lott's wife was turned to salt because she looked back, and so many other crazy things.

So as an LDS I hold hope that the leaders of the church get further revelation on the topic of the LGBTQ's. Which with the nonLDS Christian could never happen, because of their belief that all they need is the Word of God aka Bible.

I still think sooner or later people will fall into line, what bothers me about LGBTQ is so many people take their side just to spite the opposition. Hate to say it but the other half seems to just take sides that have naturally been opposed by Christianity here in the states since the beginning. The USA no longer has the protections they once enjoyed, due to the bigotry of many a Christian we've had a few generations now that hate their guts. That and more and more non Christian immigrants coming here so it will be interesting to see how things play out. Actually hoping all the parties involved find a resolution of some kind, people forget how much bloodshed it took for there to be any kind of religious unity centuries ago, can't help but feel the entitlement and privelage so many Christians here enjoy may well be what gets the whole religion in a lot of hot water eventually.

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One of my past young women came out as gay (she's currently attending BYU) a few months ago. I only interact with her on Facebook but I don't treat her any differently than I always have. I comment and 'Like' her posts, even the ones where she is expressing her feelings on LGTBQ issues. When she talks about her own journey I always remind her how much I love her.

Wow your a gem, need more people like you. Unrelated, that Bush quote, remember when he went to see the shooting victims in Texas without secret service?

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Like i've said, now it's your chance to shine. You guys are very much under the microscope, one bad action could result in a flurry of facebook/twitter rage. People really don't play nice anymore....

I would hope the Bishop would ask himself something simple, what would Jesus do...

Yah. You’ve said it’s our “chance to shine” ad nauseum. 😊 As to what Jesus would do, maybe he would take the same approach he took with the Samaritan woman at the well. He knew she was living with a man outside of marriage but he didn’t condemn her for it. He just proceeded to teach her about who He is and then continued to teach her friends.

I still think sooner or later people will fall into line, what bothers me about LGBTQ is so many people take their side just to spite the opposition. Hate to say it but the other half seems to just take sides that have naturally been opposed by Christianity here in the states since the beginning. The USA no longer has the protections they once enjoyed, due to the bigotry of many a Christian we've had a few generations now that hate their guts. That and more and more non Christian immigrants coming here so it will be interesting to see how things play out. Actually hoping all the parties involved find a resolution of some kind, people forget how much bloodshed it took for there to be any kind of religious unity centuries ago, can't help but feel the entitlement and privelage so many Christians here enjoy may well be what gets the whole religion in a lot of hot water eventually.